Pretty hard group, would rather have avoided Scotland and Georgia. Hopefully Germany beat everyone so we can factor them out.
Printable View
Pretty hard group, would rather have avoided Scotland and Georgia. Hopefully Germany beat everyone so we can factor them out.
I watched the Gibraltar-Slovakia 0-0 draw on youtube. Gibralatar played very well to get a 0-0. They are perhaps slightly better than San Marino/Andorra, but basically your average pot 6 team. Nothing to worry about. Best known player is Danny Higginbotham, once of Stoke. They have a centre-back from Barnsley too, and a striker who plays for Farsley Celtic in the English non-league. Enjoy the trip to Portugal for that one, I'm sure Gibraltar will enjoy playing you and Scotland.
Poland look to be the biggest threat to you in that group. Scotland will compete with you over third. I personally would fancy Poland to nick second, but all the teams (even Georgia) will pick up some points off each other.
I'm not quite so pleased about group B. Cyprus and Andorra are nice draws, but Israel are totally unpredictable and the away game we'll jut be happy to be still alive at the end.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Belgium and Bosnia are small countries, but that's irrelevant. In terms of their teams they're both at least as good as a number of the first seeds.
I'm more worried about Scotland than Poland. They'll have targeted this qualifying campaign to end the major finals drought, they'll be scrapping for all points and recently have been very capable of upsetting better teams.
Scotland also lost home and away to us. It's not just about the one off games, but consistency over the whole campaign. Scotland have been woefully inconsistent in the last 10-15 years. They often beat the good teams, then stuff up against the smaller ones. Don't be surprised to see them drop points to Georgia.
They'll get it right eventually and they'll be quite happy with us and Poland. Granted, I'd like to think our recent consistency against lower seeds will be an advantage.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cymro
How you fancy Group B? I'd say we'd both have loved if Ireland had been drawn out of that instead of Belgium.
They also sneaked a 1-0 win and lost 3-2 to Liechtenstein. Poland and Scotland were both only 1 result away from finishing 5th in their groups as well
I prefer our group to finish second in, over these other options,
Portugal, Albania, Armenia, Serbia
Italy, Malta, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Norway,
Russia, Lichtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Austria,
Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Iceland, Latvia, Turkey,
I'd have loved to get the Irish, but sadly we got Belgium instead. Whoever we got out of pot 2 would have been a difficult draw, but at least with someone other than Belgium we'd have had a chance.Quote:
Originally Posted by SwanVsDalton
The group's okay. The games against Israel are critical. if we get 4 points from them I reckon we'll probably be in the play-offs. That would be an excellent result. Andorra are basically the nicest bottom seed we could have had and Cyprus one of the easiest fifth seeds. But I don't see us getting much from B/H and Belgium.
Pretty disappointed tbh. We have got the second or third hardest first, third and fourth seeds possible. The Scotland games could turn out to be real "6 pointers".
I think that's one tough group. Scotland are resurgent under Strachan, Poland are technically good and could have huge support in Dublin. Georgia will be a banana skin. Fourth is as likely as second.
O'Neill will really have to earn his corn. The upcoming friendlies can not be wasted in any way.
Wales and Northern Ireland got pretty decent groups and of course England got their customary walkthrough.
Belgium really swung it the other way. But with a top three finish at stake, could've been a lot worse. Also Bosnia might suffer from the usual major finals debut hangover.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cymro
I think Sean has played his last game for Ireland. Richard Keogh certainly hopes so.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
Germany were probably the hardest 1st seeds we could get. They will walk away with the group.
We got lucky with the 3rd seeds. Romania, Turkey and Serbia are much better than Poland. Poland are better than Norway but are probably a similar level to the other teams.
Scotland will be a derby. However, Armenia, Montenegro and Wales are better teams and I'd rather the Scots than Bulgaria.
Georgia could be a banana skin. 6 points won't be a formality. Definitely, one of the better fifth seeds. Gibraltar shouldn't pose too many problems.
All in all, it could've been a lot worse.
It would be great if any two of Piszczek, Blaszczykowski or Lewandowski were to encounter injury problems when we play them. They are probably Poland's best players and the former two have had pretty dodgy injury records recently. In fact, Blaszczykowski is out for the rest of the season with a cruciate. There is that and the fact that their club, Borussia Dortmund, are struggling this season in the Bundesliga.
As has been said, we don't deserve to be there if we can't get a couple of wins over teams like Poland and Scotland. We should know what Scotland are all about - bit of a derby though - and Poland did not cover themselves in glory when they hosted the Euros; they looked pretty average.
As for Germany, as Sweden have been proven, victory or a draw is not insurmountable if you don't show them too much respect. It's just a pity that O'Neill could have had a platform to learn from in the WC 2014 Qualifying campaign but instead we just showed up to lose against Germany in Dublin and by the time we reached the return game, we were already out and were playing a completely experimental strategy and team.
Lastly, I am probably clutching at straws here but Lahm, Mertesacker and Schweinsteiger will be in their 30's and Klose will be retired by the time we play them.
They don't have much coming through to take Klose's mantle and their defence - on paper and in reality - is pretty suspect.
It's not their defence I'm worried about, it's the midfield and strikers that really concern meQuote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
I think Blaszczykowski done his knee in a few weeks ago. If we play Poland early he could still be out.
Klose's record is rubbish though. Oh wait...:)
France only managed to come away from Tbilisi with a point during World Cup qualification back in September. The two drew 0-0.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bungle
Georgia were very poor when we played them last June, however.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvIiQ1iZ3vk
Nobody ever said that. It would be worth putting money on Klose scoring in any game. Unlike some people. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Schurrle you can't be serious?Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
I am, and don't call me Schurrle.
Just been having a look at Gibraltar as, other than Danny Higginbotham, I know next to nothing about them.
Some highlights from Gibraltar's first official fixture as a full member of UEFA against Slovakia last November here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FpGQE1D67Y
And footage from the second half:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLUfCqvyo3A
Most of the players selected for their upcoming friendlies against the Faroes and Estonia play for amateur Gibraltarian sides Lincoln Red Imps or Manchester 62 with quite a few others being England-born and qualifying through Gibraltarian ancestry.
Obviously, Danny Higginbotham is well-known, but they do have a small number of other players who've carved out professional careers. Scott Wiseman plays with Preston North End (previously of Hull, Rochdale and Barnsley) and has three England under-20 level caps to his name. I see we also happen to share the same birthday. Reece Styche currently plays with Wycombe Wanderers and holds an England 'C' cap from 2010, whilst Liam Walker, once of Portsmouth, now plays for Bnei Yehuda in Israel. Of course, Shamrock Rovers knocked them out of the Europa League's second qualifying round with a 2-1 aggregate win in 2010.
They don't look absolutely awful or anything from the Slovakia friendly footage, but they shouldn't be too much trouble either. 0-0 was a decent result for Gibraltar and it wasn't all one-way traffic, but it's hard to judge how serious Slovakia were in their approach to that game. In official competition, anything other than six points from our two games against them would be an embarrassment.
Just as an aside, I was at a talk about Gibraltar's bid for UEFA membership. Unlike some two bit Caribbean members of FIFA or even Andorra, there is a thriving football community there with large numbers playing in what seems to be a well organised set up.
Our U19s only just beat them a while back.
Sorry if mentioned above, but is fixture list published later today?
SvD said it would be announced at around 3:30PM.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Happy enough with that, all told. Probably a middling group, which is kind of what you'd expect from a draw. We've had harder and we've had easier. Third and a play-off definitely achievable.
Have also only been to Germany out of that lot, so might pick up a new country or two. :)
fixtures posted on twitter: https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status...556416/photo/1
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BhK0bvMIcAAPYas.jpg
We better have our work done before the last 2 games judging by that. Its a very tough group I think but I would be confident of at least the playoffsQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
#COYBIB? What an error!
They also posted we were in Group C earlier, and managed to leave Georgia out of an email containing the groupQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Fixtures as text
Sun 07/09/2014 18:00 Georgia vs Ireland
Sat 11/10/2014 18:00 Ireland vs Gibraltar
Tue 14/10/2014 20:45 Germany vs Ireland
Fri 14/11/2014 20:45 Scotland vs Ireland
Sun 29/03/2015 20:45 Ireland vs Poland
Sat 13/06/2015 18:00 Ireland vs Scotland
Fri 04/09/2015 20:45 Gibraltar vs Ireland
Mon 07/09/2015 20:45 Ireland vs Georgia
Thu 08/10/2015 20:45 Ireland vs Germany
Sun 11/10/2015 20:45 Poland vs Ireland
3 out of first 4 games away. Wins in Georgia and Scotland will be huge. I foresee another slog, draws here there and everywhere involving everyone except Germany and Gibraltar.
Scotland have an even tougher start. Away to Germany, home to Georgia, away to Poland, home to us. Will be interesting to see what state they're in by the time our game comes rounds. On the other hand, we should go in with six points (not jinxing anything, it just looks more predictable).Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I like those fixtures, with the exception of June 13 against Scotland, over a month after the season ends, when our lads should be resting easy, meandering between bed, bars, massage tables and beaches.
It's a ridiculous date for a qual fixture.
Those times are CET so I assume our fixtures will kick off at either 5PM or 7:45PM.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Some more short term unrest developing in Georgia around the end of August would be ideal.
yes, sorry, should have mentioned thatQuote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
here's the fixtures as an iCal for your phone/calendar/email: https://sites.google.com/site/tetsuj...edirects=0&d=1
We definitely have it in us to come second.
We definitely don't have it in us to win it
ArdeeBhoy won't be one bit happy about this.
Overall, I think we're a little unlucky as there were easier groups but there are probably harder ones too. I foresee Poland and Scotland both dropping plenty of points so I think if we can put together any form of consistency we'll be well-placed to get an automatic spot. We've played each of Scotland, Georgia and Poland in home friendlies over the past two years or so and won each time.